IT'S THE SHIP 2015 SERIES INDEX

One of the things on my bucket list I have yet to check off is attending the love child of a music festival and a cruise. I'm not even sure what to call it: rave cruise, bass boat perhaps? The two most prominent electronic festivals at sea based out the USA are easily Holy Ship and the now ill-fated Mad Decent Boat Party, both of which I didn't have a chance to set foot on during my time living stateside. Fortunately for me, my good friend EJ pointed me to It's The Ship, touted as Asia's Largest Festival at sea. I pondered, tossed and turned. With a solid lineup, headlined by none other than Kaskade himself, coupled with the fact I was going to be on that that side of the world anyway, I finally said Why Not! To add more icing on this cake, I've never really been on a cruise. What better way to start that with 4 day festival at sea!

Image Courtesy of It's The Ship & Livescape Entertainment

As I was the odd man out with all of my friends' cabins being full up, I took advantage of the Roommate Match program where they match a single traveler with another solo traveler of the same gender to share a 2 person cabin. According to their terms and conditions, if a roommate match isn't made, you can a) Get a full refund (minus processing fees) and not go, or b) Pay for the entirety of the cabin. If sharing isn't your thing, you can also opt to commandeer a whole cabin to yourself that would amount to about USD$1950. In the end, I put my order in on September 22nd, 2015 (post early bird pricing) and paid a total of USD$976 (taxes and fees included) for the interior stateroom 6529 (6th level). I was informed of my roommate match on November 12th (SPOILER: he never showed up and I had the whole cabin to myself!) and I was all set to hop aboard.

Fast forward to November 20th. I had arrived in Singapore from Sri Lanka early that morning and after meeting up with my ship mates, we headed straight for the zoo that was Marina Bay Cruise Center. There were over 3000 people slated to be on board the ship. Throngs of people and squeaking of luggage wheels everywhere. We stood in line to check in for about an hour before we received our Seapasses and were finally able to pass through immigration to board the gigantic Mariner of the Seas!

Pro-Tip: The Seapass card acts as your access card to your cabin as well as your charge card for all expenses on the ship. Guard it with your life! If you lose it, inform the customer service desk on Deck 5 immediately for a replacement.